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THE TBAN8IT OF VENUS.To-morrow the much-talked of ijrwwitof Venua across the sun's disc will take place. In practical astronomy, remarks an exchange, the standard of measure* merit used is the sun's distance from the : earth ; and by the aid of this astrotaonri* cat yard-measure, as' it has been termed, the relative distances of the planets, and fixed stars are gauged, and y at ions calculations are made. It will be readily under* * stood, therefore, that astronomers1 hays' been, and still are, specially anxious that their 'standard of measurement should be unmistakaably known, and.that every opportunity for testing its accuracy should be taken advantage of. For this purpose (determining the sun’s. average distance}^ the passing of Venus between uW and thesauri affords us the most reliable means of obtaining the necessary data. The first recorded observation oF'the transit of Venus took place December 4,1639, the next on June 5, 1671, the next on June-3rd, 17691, and after to-morrow there will be no transit until June 7, 2004, another taking place on June 5,. 2012. Therefore this is the last opportunity that the present dwellers on the earth will have of witnessing the transit of Penns. We are told that 14 The whole duration of the transit will not be visible in this colony. The external contact at ingress takes place at Ih, 46min. 18sect. a.m., New Zealand mean time, and consequently when the sun rises the transit of Venus across the sun’s disc will be in progress. What observers stationed in Australia and New Zealand have to direct their attention to is the internal contact at egress, that Is to say when the outer edges °f both the sun and the planet appear to coincide. This takes place at ' about ?h. 2Imin. 46sec., and the external contact at 7h. 42min. 9aee. on the morn* ing of Thursday. We have beard that u card perforated with a fine needle makes an excellent medium through which to watch the sun, and is preferable for that purpose, to smoked glass.
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Ashburton Guardian
Ashburton, Canterbury, NZ
Wed, Dec 06, 1882
Page 2
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USA 07 May 2022
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